My life rarely plays out the way I want it to. The one I have in my head--it's some weird alternate reality where I'm actually awesome. So when this alternate reality becomes the reality, I kind of freak out.

I was about to say hello when he said, "I ran out of seats... I can drop you off at the next stop?" I thought for a second and replied, "It's okay, I'll stand." I couldn't read his face but he just nodded. I'm kind of short, so hanging onto the top side railing isn't ideal. Instead, I stayed in the front of the aisle, holding onto the lower sidebar, right beside/behind him. Yes, I spent the entire ride right by him. You're not allowed to talk to the driver while it's in motion, so I didn't (partly fearing my verbal diarrhea) and took my book out and read the entire way. It was comfortably awkward and really cute watching him operate the bus. I snuck looks at him from time to time because, well, you know. And he looked up from time to time (via the mirror), and I think there was once he looked a little longer than usual, but I couldn't tell if he was just looking towards the back of the bus. I remained "engrossed" in my book. Way to play it cool, Amy.

A little ways into the ride, he reached over to his side to grab something. I couldn't tell what it was but he sort of fumbled with it while steering and next thing I know, he's offering me a piece of gum! I saw that he had successfully extracted two sticks of gum from the package, one for him and one for me. He didn't say anything except hold out one piece, and I found that really funny. I smiled and went, "Oh, thank you!" In my head, I was going, "AWWW, HOW ARE YOU SO CUTE AND SO NICE." I took it and saw him smile. Even though I already had a piece of gum in my mouth, I unwrapped it and popped it in. I wasn't sure what flavor to expect since it was a pale beige color. It turned out to be fruity flavored, and for some reason that warmed my heart. (No, it didn't clash with my gum.)

I think he was waiting for me to give him my gum wrapper, but I didn't. I visibly put it in my pocket and saw him looking, so he knew. I don't know about you, but I keep my gum wrappers so I can spit out my gum into the wrapper before throwing it out. But truthfully, on a much less practical level, the reason I kept it was because I wanted to... keep it. A little memento from this one moment, from this one boy, that I like.

The next morning, I gave him a note:

"What flavor gum did you give me yesterday? It was tasty. (PS. You're really nice :-)"

When I got off, he returned the note to me:

"Mango Smoothie. You're really nice too, and I'd love to have coffee with you sometime."

That's not all though. He included his phone number and his name. You guys, I know his name now. And I have his number. And you should have seen my face when I read his note. It was like... it's like the night they light the tree at Rockefeller Center. It was like that. I had a smile on my face the entire subway ride to work, half laughing in disbelief. People were looking at me like, "What's she smiling about?" In turn, I saw a few people start smiling, as if they were in on it, too. I don't know the proper etiquette for these types of things, but after I got off the subway, I texted him.

I don't know what to do with myself.

Sometimes things do happen the way you want, and when they do... I just know that, despite this terribly dreary day, I am happy.

(Previously: This boy)

—15 October 2009 ; 14 comments


Katherine on October 15, 2009 at 11:36PM

I feel all sweet and fuzzy inside just reading about this. Yay!


Andrea on October 15, 2009 at 11:51PM

I honestly started smiling when I was reading this. Keep us updated!



Captain-P on October 16, 2009 at 12:58AM

To hell with etiquette; name a time and a place! And good luck!


Marianne on October 16, 2009 at 1:28AM

Dude. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds! This story is already fucking adorable. Sighhh.



Dee on October 16, 2009 at 9:28AM

Oh my, that made me swoon all the way to the moon...


denise on October 16, 2009 at 4:25PM

This made my day :)


rhea on October 18, 2009 at 2:45AM

oh man. i actually yelled out loud "woohoo!" halfway through reading this.


Rachel on October 18, 2009 at 6:27PM

hate to say i told you so, but... I TOLD YOU YOU WERE AWESOME AND YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE ME... i told you so!

i smiled the whole time reading this. go amy!


Manki on October 19, 2009 at 3:41AM

cuuuuuuute! : )


ari on October 20, 2009 at 2:12PM

that is the cutest thing ever.


gem on October 20, 2009 at 2:38PM

CUTEST EVER! *throws heart-shaped confetti*


Jellee on October 22, 2009 at 2:51AM

I also smiled all the way to the end of the entry. So excited for you! I wish I could encounter cute MTA bus drivers. XD
Hi, my name is Amy. Be well, and say hello!



RSS
Atom

Powered by MT